Hercostomus petulans Parent, 1939

Soares, Matheus M. M., Capellari, Renato S. & Ale-Rocha, Rosaly, 2023, New or little-known Neotropical Dolichopodidae (Diptera) (II): genus Hercostomus Loew excluded from the Neotropics, Zootaxa 5254 (2), pp. 181-208 : 183

Hercostomus petulans Parent, 1939 nomen dubium

Hercostomus petulans Parent, 1939: 147 , figs 8–9. Type locality: Hamburg Farm , Costa Rica.

Remarks. According to the original description, Parent (1939) stated that the holotype of this species was originally housed at the Zoological Museum of Hamburg (now Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches Museum, ZMUH), but we were not able to locate the type (Martin Husemann, pers. comm.). Nevertheless part of the Hamburg types designated by Parent (1928, 1939) and supposedly lost during the WWII fire are actually housed at the Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut (SDEI, M̧ncheberg) ( Rohlfein & Ewald 1979). Unfortunately, the holotype of H. petulans could not be found among the SDEI holdings (F. Menzel, pers. comm.) and should be considered as lost. Based on the wing venation, brownish wing membrane, and very narrow face, H. petulans is superficially similar to Hercostomus problematicus , redescribed below, and with some undescribed South American species with narrow face (S. Brooks pers. comm.). Thus, without analyzing the holotype, it is impossible to correctly associate H. petulans with any of these species, hence we treat this name as a nomen dubium.

Distribution. Costa Rica.